A Bloody Nose
by BlackBaby
Summary: "Well, thanks for the bloody nose I guess. And thanks for cleaning it up." She smiles a little and he smiles back. She turns to leave the office but quickly turns back around. "And I don't know if I've ever formally introduced myself, but I'm Hanna. Hanna Marin." He knew that of course. "I'm Caleb. Caleb Rivers."


_**A/N: **__Hey guys, I'm back! I've missed being on fanfiction and while I'm not going to be updating Rivers&Co. for a little while longer, I have a treat. I had a sudden burst of inspiration last night but I didn't want to update Rivers&Co., because I'm not ready for it to be a regular thing yet. I didn't want to let this inspiration go to waste so I composed this work of art. LOL. I really hope you guys enjoy reading this because I enjoyed writing it, a lot. I forgot how much I love haleb. Please review and let me know what you think. It's only a one shot, so please don't ask me to update. I would however like to write a few more one shots over time if I get a lot of support on this one. I love all you guys a lot. __ Enjoy. PS- Quick shout out to__** LoneGypsy **__for her amazing 3 new stories __**And Action!, Royal Towers, **__and __**The Colonies. **__They are all amazing. So without any more rambling, here is my take on an alternate beginning to Haleb._

**A Bloody Nose**

_The first time he saw her he was mesmerized._

They sat next to each other in World History. He had known her in passing since freshman year but never really had a conversation with her. She was popular and friends with the cheerleaders. He wasn't. It wasn't that he was unpopular, because he did have a good amount of friends. He just never talked to her. Until this year, he hadn't had a single class with her. This year, when he stepped into his 2nd period World History class on the first day of school, to find her perched on her desk with her long legs crossed, leafing through the August/September copy of Seventeen, he felt himself do a silent cheer. He didn't know _why _he was so happy that he was in a class with her after all this time. Never once had she tried to interact with him in 3 years other than the occasional half smile in the halls.

He took the only empty seat left in the class, which was evidently next to her. She must have noticed movement in her peripheral vision because she looked up from her magazine to see him sitting down next to her, and she flashed him her famous half smile. Not friendly but not unfriendly. More like curious. He tried to give one back but it came out more like a grimace than he had intended.

That was their first true interaction. A silent one.

. . .

He tried to take good notes in World History that year, but he couldn't seem to concentrate with the leggy blonde sitting next to him. He can't help but steal glances at her, and he usually catches her popping a gum bubble or texting under her desk. He sometimes meets her eye when she notices him and she raises an eyebrow as if to say, _Tell on me. I dare you. _He never does of course.

He wants to take good notes, he really does. He needs this class to boost his average above a 95 which, combined with his SAT scores, will help him get into college. He needs to get into college, he can't stay in Rosewood. Not with his foster family, if you could even call Janet a family. She beats him. She ridicules him. She neglects him. She doesn't even notice when he's gone.

Lately, he's been gone more often. He finds Janet's small and untidy house to be an unfit environment for him to study in, and he really does need to get that 95 average. He's been studying at the public library until it closes at 9, and then he slips into a side door of Rosewood High School which he somehow knows is always unlocked. He didn't really know what to do the first time he broke into the school at night, so he began going around to each door and jiggle the handle to see if it would open. He did it with every door on the first floor, which had to be at least 40 until he finally heard the click of one and it swung open. What a lucky break that it was the principal's office, complete with a couch, TV, and mini fridge. He told himself not to get too comfortable, that it may not be unlocked tomorrow night or the night after, but he enjoys the principal's ice cold beer and flat screen and lumpy leather couch for one night, and for one night he's truly happy.

. . .

He's been doing this for a month now before he hears someone in the hallway while he's lounging on the couch he's gotten used to. He springs up and steps into the hallway, listening for the footsteps he swears he just heard. They sound faint, so he begins slowly walking down the dark and quiet hallway like in a horror movie. He's approaching a set of double doors, when he hears the clacking of heels behind them. He runs up to the doors, ready to defend himself, and pushes them open. What he hears surprises him.

"Ow, fuck!"

. . .

He hasn't asked why she's here so late at night yet, but he doesn't feel it's important. Maybe she's in the same situation as him, although he doubts it. All that matters is that they're sitting on the principal's lumpy leather couch and she has her legs crossed with her knees almost touching his, and she's holding a tissue to the bloody nose he gave her. Despite pinching her nose for the last 10 minutes, the bleeding hasn't stopped, he's noticed. She also seems to have noticed and she looks nervous.

"Here, you have to tilt your head back," He gently guides her head to lean against the edge of the couch and he tilts her chin up slightly. She doesn't thank him out loud, but her eyes say all that needs to be said. It still feels surreal that he's sitting her at night in the principal's office with her, and they're actually talking and he gave her a bloody nose. It doesn't seem like it's truly happening.

"So, get a lot of these? You seem to know what you're doing," She speaks through the tissue.

Caleb looks down at his hands. He doesn't want to tell her about all the bloody noses he's had in his life, given to him by bullies in fights that he won, or drunk foster parents. He smirks a little but he feels as though she can see right through him and knows the truth, and that makes him feel like he's sitting there in front of her completely naked.

The bleeding finally stops after another 10 minutes, but her nose is slightly swollen. She disposes of her tissue and leans back on the couch.

"So what're you doing here at this late hour?"

He's surprised by her assertiveness. "I could ask you the same thing."

She cracks her half smile. It's a lot different now. "Touche. But I asked you first."

"I asked you second." He feels like a child but he kind of likes this playful banter. He likes talking to her.

She sighs. "Well alright if you must know, I come here to throw up."

He stares at her.

"You come here to…throw up?"

"Bulimia's a real bitch."

He doesn't know what to say at this point. He's shocked to say the least, that she has bulimia _and_ that she just told him, when this is the first conversation they've ever had. He scratches the back of his neck and looks at her feet, which are in black converse sneakers.

"That's rough. Sorry." He doesn't know what else to say without being lame or offensive.

She shakes her head. "Don't be. I deal with it, but my mom wouldn't. She's dead at this time of night so I sometimes sneak out and come here. It's lame, I know, but whatever." She shrugs and catches his eye before quickly looking away.

He wonders why he's never heard her before tonight but doesn't ask. He just lets what she said sink in. Pretty, blonde, popular girl is a bulimic. It sounds like the kind of cliché you hear in movies but never think is real. She's a walking cliché.

She doesn't ask him again what he's doing there and for that he's grateful. He doesn't feel like involuntarily dumping his problems onto her when she has her own issues to deal with.

"So you came here to…throw up. Did you do it already or…?" He doesn't quite know how to word it but she get it.

"Nah, you caught me a little early. Thanks I guess." She grinds her teeth together and shifts on the couch.

He glances at the clock on the wall. 12:14. "Listen, I should probably get home. If my mom wakes up and sees I'm gone she'll probably have a bitch fit." She gets up slowly as if her limbs have just started working again and he gets up too.

They stand chest to chest, and he notices that he's got a good 6 inches on her. For the first time, he also notices the apparent tension between them. "Well, thanks for the bloody nose I guess. And thanks for cleaning it up." She smiles a little and he smiles back. She turns to leave the office but quickly turns back around. "And I don't know if I've ever formally introduced myself, but I'm Hanna. Hanna Marin."

He knew that of course. "I'm Caleb. Caleb Rivers."

She bites her lower lip and smiles shyly. "I'll see you in World History then, Caleb Rivers. Please don't tell anyone about my eating disorder." And before he can respond that he won't, she disappears out the office and out of sight. He stands there until he can no longer he her footsteps running down the hall.

. . .

The next few weeks are strange. The first day after what happened, she acts normal in class. On her phone, not paying much attention to him or anyone. But after class, as he's packing up his stuff to leave and others are shuffling out the door, she stops him. "Can I talk to you?"

He stops midway through stuffing his notebook into his bag. "Sure."

She bites her lips and twirls a strand of hair. He's never seen her look so nervous, not even last night. "Um, I said a lot of stuff last night. I've actually never told anyone about that…thing I told you about. So could you do me a favor and not tell anybody? Please?" She won't meet his eye.

"Don't worry about it, Hanna. I'm not going to tell anyone." She sounds like a scared little child and for a second it frightens him.

She looks relieved. "Thank you. But that's not all I wanted to ask you. I wanted to know if you'd take my number."

He raises his eyebrows at her. She's standing there in front of him looking no different than ever but she's like a completely different person. "Uh sure, yeah."

Her face brightens. "Awesome." She takes out a notebook quickly and rips out a piece of paper, scribbling on it. She hands it to him and he studies it for a second, before realizing that it's not just a phone number but an address as well.

"What's this?"

She blinks twice. "It's my address. I just want you to know that if you need a place to stay, there's an old couch in my basement. Way better than the principal's couch. My mom will never know."

He considers her offer for a moment before even thinking about how humiliating it would be. It would be nice to live in a house again, and though he had gotten used to the principal's couch, it really wasn't comfortable at all. Then again, he knew things about her. Things no one else knew. He couldn't really feel too humiliated in front of her. To anyone else he would have told them to eat shit and walked away, but she was different. She had shared possibly the most intimate secret she had with him last night and he barely knew her. He felt like he owed her something.

"Thanks for the offer. I'll think about it."

. . .

He hadn't expected to go to her place the first night, but he figured he didn't have anything to lose. He wanted to know more about Hanna, and her house seemed like a good place to start. He sent her one quick, short text. ** It's Caleb. Gonna come over, cool with u?**

She wrote back almost instantly. **yea ofc. back door is unlocked moms not home so don't worry.**

He smirked. She wasn't that different from other girls when it came to texting. He walked the few blocks from the library to Hanna's house and when he got there, he took a deep breath. He was about to enter the house of the most popular girl in school, who for some reason seemed interested in him. He snuck around the side of the house and found a backdoor. He turned the knob and it opened to reveal a neat kitchen, where Hanna sat at an island. When she heard the door open she looked up.

"Hey!" She smiled.

"Hey." He kind of just stood there in the doorway clutching his bag. He had gone back to Janet's earlier today during lunch to get some clothes, just in case he planned to stay here.

She hopped off the stool she was sitting on and proceeded to show him around the house, although he didn't know how much he would be seeing on a daily basis. Last, she showed him the basement. It looked comfortable enough. Once she left him to the studying he insisted he had to do, after thanking her profusely, he sat on the couch. Much better than the other one.

All night, as he lay on that couch, he couldn't stop thinking about Hanna. She was right above him, 2 stories up. How did she look when she slept? She must have been cute. Caleb caught himself. Was he really thinking about how she looked when she slept? He usually only thought about how girls would look naked. He must really like Hanna if he wasn't thinking about her like that…yet.

. . .

Caleb stayed at Hanna's house for the next few weeks. Their interaction in school went from not talking at all to talking sometimes by her locker or in class, and she no longer gave him curious smiles. She gave him genuine smiles which he loved. She had a beautiful smile. It was new to him and strange, but he liked it a lot. On weekends, Hanna would always invite Caleb out. Every Friday and Saturday night she would invite him to a party but he always politely declined, claiming he had other plans. He never really did have other plans but he didn't feel like going to parties. They were never his thing. On most of those nights, she would return home around 12 which he guessed was her curfew. She was never drunk off her ass, usually only tipsy but sometimes a little drunk. Sometimes she came down to say goodnight and sometimes she didn't. He liked not knowing, it made the surprise more fun.

. . .

On one particular Friday night, after Hanna had gotten all dolled up to go to her usual party, and he had declined her invitation to go with, Caleb had settled into the basement couch with his Calculus textbook. He had been studying for about an hour and a half or so when his phone started to ring. He looked at it and saw Hanna's name. Right away he assumed it was a drunk dial or something but he thought about it. She had never drunk dialed before. She must be really drunk then, and might need some assistance getting home. He picked up the phone. "Hanna, what's up?" He heard loud music in the backround and shrieks.

"C-Caleb, can you come get me. I need you to come get me, please." He had never heard her sound so scared and vulnerable, even that day after she told him about her eating disorder.

"Of course I'll come get you. Where are you?" He grabbed his coat and held his phone between his ear and his shoulder as he put it on.

"302 Orange County Road, I'm outside. Thank you so much." She hung up and he quickly calculated how far it was. About 2 miles over. He sprinted up the stairs and hopped into her car. He drove the short distance to the house thinking about what could have happened to her. When he pulled up in front of the house, Hanna was standing on the front lawn, holding her high heels in her hands. Her makeup was washed off and her hair was a bit messed up. She looked like a scared little girl. She recognized her car and ran over, hopping in the front seat. Without hesitating she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. He hugged her back, tight. When they let go, he saw that tears had been running down her face the entire time. "Hanna, what happened? What's wrong?" He brushed a piece of hair that had fallen into her eyes behind her ear. She sniffled. "Please just get out of here first. I can't stay here." Caleb quickly sped away from the house and the party that was still in full swing. Hanna sat there, crying in silence and Caleb tore himself up inside wondering what could be wrong. He had to know.

When they arrived back at her house, he pulled her car into the driveway and parked it. He turned to face her. "Now tell me. What happened?"

She started to cry a bit harder and could barely get the words out. "It was-I- he took me upstairs, but I- I didn't want to. And he didn't ask- he just- I couldn't stop him and I- I felt so dirty afterwards- I didn't know who else to call," At that moment she burst into tears, not small ones either but big huge hysterical tears. She was sobbing uncontrollably and all Caleb could do was take her in his arms and hold her. She cried into his shirt and he stroked her hair, not knowing what he could say. She was raped, it was clear as day. All he could do was hold her tonight and tomorrow find the fucker that did it and kill him.

"It's gonna be okay,_ you're_ gonna be okay," He whispered into her hair. "Who did it? Who did this to you, Hanna?"

She coughed and hiccupped. "It was…Sean. Sean Ackard." She began crying again.

Caleb clenched his teeth. Sean Ackard was a typical Rosewood jock, who bullied nerds and paraded around the school like he owned the place. He had done this to Hanna? He would be dead.

"I'll get him Hanna, I swear."

. . .

She had fallen asleep after 15 minutes of non stop crying. He gently laid her on the seat, before getting out and going to her side of the car. He picked her up and carried her into the house. He wasn't worried about waking her mom. Ashley Marin was also always out on Friday and Saturday nights, probably on dates. He brought Hanna up to her room and lay her on her bed. He turned to leave when she called out to him. "Stay with me, please. I can't be alone." He turned back around and went to sit in the chair next to her bed. She moved over and patted the space next to her. He climbed in with her and she snuggled against his chest. He wrapped his arms around he and held her tight. He wouldn't let something like this happen to her again, he cared way too much about her. And here, in her bed, with her snuggled against his chest, he was finally realizing that.

The next morning, Caleb woke up first. He slowly got out of her bed and went to brush his teeth, praying that Hanna's mom wasn't awake yet. This was the first time he had slept anywhere but the basement couch, and it was taking a huge risk, but Hanna needed him. She still did.

He brushed his teeth and went back to Hanna's room where she was now awake. He sat in her bedside chair. "How are you? How did you sleep?"

She bit her lip. "Okay, I guess. Thanks for staying with me."

He shook his head. "It's no problem at all. You needed me. I'll always be here for you."

"I know."

Neither of them spoke after that for a little while. Caleb didn't know what he could say to make her feel at ease. Finally, she got out of bed and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. He stayed in his chair, thinking about last night. Hanna had been raped. Someone took advantage of her. He wondered if it had been her first time too, and he guessed it had. It shouldn't have happened. That's not how someone like Hanna should lose their virginity. Granted, no one should, but Caleb knew Hanna. He could tell that she was the type of girl who planned what age she wanted to be and where and have it be a magical night full of love. She didn't deserve for it to be with Sean, she deserved someone who loved her and who she trusted. Someone like him.

. . .

She didn't want to talk about it. That's what she had said upon her return from the bathroom. He questioned her and told her that she needed to tell the police, but she brushed him off. She said that it wasn't a big deal, and that she knew it wouldn't happen again. Caleb didn't like it, but what could he do? She didn't want her walls to be broken down and he was in no position to do so.

. . .

They had a complicated relationship. He didn't know exactly where they stood. They were about as close as they could possibly be without dating, but he knew in his heart he wanted to take the next step. He wanted to be closer to her. One Friday night, he found her at the kitchen island studying her World History notes, which weren't very good. Her mother was out, as usual. In fact, Hanna hadn't gone out on a weekend since what happened, which was about 9 parties that she had missed. He took a seat across from her at the island. She looked up from her notes and smiled at him. "Hey, what's up?"

"Um, I just needed to talk to you about something. Something important."

She furrowed her brow and closed her notebook. "What is it?"

He bit his lip and found himself at a loss for words. What if she said no? He took a deep breath and said what he'd been wanting so say since he met her.

"So listen. We've known each other for a few months now, and I really like you, Hanna. Like, love even. And after everything that's happened I can't stand the thought of me leaving her or losing you without you knowing how I really feel about you. You're perfect, and all your imperfections just make you more perfect. And I've- I've never like, felt this way about a girl before and Ijust-"

He was interrupted by Hanna's lips as they came crashing down on his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he did the same to her waist. They kissed passionately and he could swear fireworks were going off. It was perfect. Hanna was perfect. And he didn't know why it had taken him so long to realize it. She was the one constant in his life. He needed her as much as she needed him. He didn't think about anyone else, not Janet or Hanna's mom coming or Sean. All he could think of was the feeling of Hanna in his arms that he had been waiting for.

. . .

A bloody nose was all it took to give him the best thing he could ever hope to get.


End file.
